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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Now that Florida’s presidential preference primary
is over, I considered changing my party affiliation on my voter registration back
to the Democratic Party. (See my
December 21, 2011, post “An
Unorthodox Suggestion” for background.) But I decided not to. Here’s why.

It’s likely that lots of Republican primaries will
take place in Florida in August, given the number of candidates who have
already filed to run. For seats
representing residents of the Greater Naples, FL, area:

·7
Republicans have filed to run for the 14th Congressional District
seat currently held by Connie Mack IV, who has declared his candidacy for the
U.S. Senate;

·14
Republicans including Mack have filed to run for that Senate seat against
incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson;

·Two
Republicans have filed for the Collier County Commission District 1
seat currently held by Donna Fiala, three
Republicans have filed for the District 3 seat currently held by Tom
Henning, and two
Republicans have filed for the District 5 seat currently held by Jim
Coletta.

While no
Republicans have filed to challenge incumbents Garrett Richter
(Florida Senate District 37), Kathleen Passidomo (House District 76) or Matt
Hudson (House District 101), and no more than one Democrat has filed for any of
the races (except U.S. Senate, where Bill Nelson is the acknowledged primary
winner), the filing
deadline isn’t for several months and challengers could still come
foward.

In a closed primary state like Florida, you can
only vote in a party’s primary elections if you are registered as a member of
that party.

In the November general elections for these seats,
given the local electorate, I fear that the Republican candidate will win. So it’s in my interest to vote in the
Republican primary for the candidate I think would best represent my interests,
rather than not vote in the primary at all and let others decide.

So I’m going to remain a registered Republican for
now and vote in the August Republican primaries. Any Florida voter wishing to do the same must
change her party affiliation to Republican by completing
a new voter registration form by July 16.